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Serious English

The future perfect continuous tense  is formed with the� future perfecttense  of the verb� to be  ( shall / will have been ) +� a present participle  (verb + -ing).�

The future perfect continuous tense is used :

to indicate the length of time that an action continues in the future. 

Examples:

  • By tomorrow, my uncle� will have been driving  a hearse for fifteen years.
  • My uncle� will have been researching  in Antarctica for exactly ten years next Sunday.

to show an action in progress until an event happens in the future. Here, a time clause is used. The future perfect continuous tense may come either before or after the time clause.

Examples:

  • By the time he comes home at the end of the year, he� will have been studying  overseas for five years.
  • He� will have been studying  overseas for five years by the time he comes home at the end of the year.
    (Time clause:� by the time he comes home at the end of the year ; main clause:  he will have been studying overseas for five years . A comma is placed at the end of a time clause when the clause comes before the main clause.)